Claims of 'Small Number of Troops' Differ From Other Recent Estimates

US officials familiar with the situation say that the Pentagon has a contingency plan in place for seizing Syria’s chemical weapons arsenal should President Obama order them to do so, and that the plan involves sending “small teams” of special operations forces into Syria.

The idea that this could be accomplished with only “small teams” of ground troops is dramatically far afield of what officials were saying only last week, when they claimed that the plans involved a 50,000-60,000 strong occupation force just to secure weapons, and even more for “peacekeeping.”

Syria is known to have a chemical weapon arsenal, but exactly where and exactly how much is a matter of considerable speculation. Though the US claims to have some intelligence on the matter it is doubtful, particularly after the Iraq occupation, that they will prove particularly reliable.

Officials did not indicate what “small teams” meant in terms of numbers, or try to explain the difference from last week’s figures. It could reflect two different schools of thought inside the administration, or could simply be a way to get “some” troops on the ground by any means necessary and then later on use the larger estimates as an excuse to escalate.

"Seize Syria's Chemical Weapons?" The Pentagon's "plan" will turn to sh*t faster than their last one. Afghaniscam? Iraq? Libya?

mojo

"Pentagon has a contingency plan in place” for war that is, Pentagon always have a plan even for your life ready to be implemented and by all means all over the world, Look: pentagon as NATO is a militarism establishment of the warmongering governments as US and EU. They had a similar plan for Iraq but never find their plan although they managed to ruin the country, now they have this plan for Syria, why the hell do you have a plan if you are not going to invade Syria, at least thats what Barack Hussein Obama is saying.., do you believe him…? First almost 4 years in the office and his already have a war under his name, just imagine what his going to start the next 4 years.

Will American warmongering ever stop? Sorry, stupid question. Of course it won't.

One way to stop its imperialism is to make it liable for all the damage and deaths and injuries it causes. It is already bankrupt so trillions of dollars in compensation would do the trick!

Mike

Israel gets it so should the hundreds of countrys America and Israel and others illegal go to war with some most covert not told by the MSM.But then again the MSM only says what the neocons allow.

Ben_C

Interesting…"small teams" needed to secure stockpiles of weapons which may, or may not, even exist in the first place?

How long will these "small teams" be staying?

This is a non-issue anyway, since ground forces would create all sorts of political complications, and sending ground troops into an area Leon Panetta claims Hezbollah and Iran's Quds force are allegedly operating–especially in the mist of 'talk' concerning a possible bombing of the Nation of Iran by a certain "ally" in the near future–seems counter-intuitive…this would definitely involve "risk", at least I would think so…if you even believe 1/4 of what is being said about Syria by our "leaders"…that is, when they are describing the Nation as a regional menace and serious "threat" to our "National Security",,,or, at the very least, a 'threat' to our de-facto 51st "State" commonly referred to as "Israel". I guess Israel is still technically 'officially' "at War" with Syria, as it was never 'undeclared, but that's a semantic issue. Israel has no role, interest, or involvement in this particular "situation" in Syria at present…as they have not "said" anything 'publicly', nor have they distributed any press releases concerning this issue–other than that week stint where they were 'concerned' about "chemical weapons", or something or the other, but that seemed to fade….

That's always the funny thing about the great 'evil regimes' of the world…they're either an imminent, immediate, and grave "direct threat" to be taken very 'seriously'–when it is convenient, that is.–or they are, even seemly the next second (or somehow at the exact same time in some cases) in its "last throes"–reduced to ordering Russian "mail-order Brides" and forcing them into military service as a last ditch effort to meet the Nation's security needs–bound to collapse in a heartbeat on its own…if not on its own, something, as a worst case scenario, a quick seal team operation could take out on a Saturday morning, and even return to base in time for 'lights out'….

I guess the "threat level" and "strength" depends a lot on the agenda being pushed by the "official" speaking; as well as the "official's" target audience at the time I suppose…

MoT

The same excuses used for the Iraq invasion.

JoaoAlfaiate

How about a plan to seize israel's nuclear weapons? Or getting them to join the NPT?

Johnny_Warbucks

Here we go again.

Lawrence Cutter

This empty, silly noise is nothing but a smoke screen and desperate attempt at distraction from the facts that the Emperor's NATO bombers have been involuntarily grounded, his terrorists troops have been exposed and the patriotic and competent Syrian army is mopping up the bloody pools of mercenaries spilled on their nation by the dictators of Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

Mia Ferst

Who cares what happens in Syria, right?

Klyde

"Peacekeeping" is that the new word for the dismemberment of a sovriegn state?